I preferred the "B" plot in "The Storyteller", more than the "A" plot, which was clunky and a bit all over the place. I actually believed that Bajoran girl had the weight of the world, so to speak, on her shoulders, and the actress who portrayed her projected that sense of post-Occupation intensity very well, especially in that scene where she confronts Commander Sisko.

"Progress" had an interesting premise, but was not especially well-executed, IMO. And, like others have stated, Mullibok was not especially likable. In fact, I always use Joseph Sisko in The "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" two-parter as a comparison. Like Mullibok, he's an extremely stubborn, set in his ways old guy who has no intention of making any "adjustments". But Brock Peters was able to communicte that so much more succinctly, and I actually felt for Captain Sisko as he tried to get his father to accept the blood screenings.

But Seven of Five says otherwise, so I'll bow to his superior knowledge as he's definitively not a ladies' man.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it superior knowledge. I wouldn't call anything from that period of my life superior anything. Luckily all of that is way in the past!

Anyway...

I liked Lwaxana Troi in this episode. No, really! Along with Cost of Living and Dark Page on TNG, this was goood use of her, even if her schtick with Picard has been simply transferred to Odo. What's good is that she helps Odo when he's feeling vulnerable, by making herself vulnerable too. When is she ever like that? She's almost a real person!

Just to backtrack for a moment, I'd like to know precisely why a leprechaun would have been so much worse than Rumplestiltskin. I've got my own ideas why (given what we got in "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk") But I'd be curious to hear more.

I'm willing to accept that a leprechaun would have pushed us into new levels of awful, but Rumplestiltskin himself was pretty bad.

Click to expand...

That's something I'd like to know as well. Maybe I'm showing my complete cultural ignorance, but I don't see how Rumplestiltskin is less offensive.

As for The Forsaken - I agree that the Odo-Troi storyline and Bashir getting some comeuppance are the only things buoying this episode up. Otherwise, a fairly average Season One offering. Certainly nothing to write home about.

Modern leprechauns are largely just a bunch of Irish stereotypes, a lot of which were borne out of anti-Irish sentiment that existed in the British establishment in the 19th century to make the Irish appear uncivilised. Rumpelstiltskin is race-neutral, which means we can all hate him equally.

I have the TNG clamshells too, I got six of them (1, 3-7) second hand for €150, which was an absolute steal back then, and I bought season 2 new from Amazon. While I don't believe that there will be a zombie apocalypse during my lifetime, the DVDs should survive the oncoming nuclear war quite well. When the dust settles, we Europeans will control the world's supply of Star Trek and will be able to sell them back to the US for great profit.

Here in the States, we got the flimsy, CHEAP, clear plastic coverings over the disc cases that crack after a few removals and replacements. However, I paid something like $15.99 USD used for most of the season sets when FYE was dumping them to make room for more Blu Ray disc sets/movies about 3-4 years ago.

This episode starts out promising as Sisko and Kira are potentially set up for a conflict over a Valerian freighter and the possibility that they're supplying weapons to the Cardassians. Actually, we haven't even seen any Cardassians since Past Prologue, which is weird considering they were set up as the show's main villains in Emissary, so this episode will finally return to them and their devious schemes, yes?

No! Because some Klingons show up and screw everything up, which is so like them. They bring some sort of telepathic virus that makes everyone act weird, as if they were characters from some sort of ancient alien play. Sisko obsesses about building a clock, Kira becomes all sexualised, and Jadzia keeps telling old stories about her past, like that one time she got to second base with a librarian in a library and didn't get caught by her boss or anything (hey, I'm getting better at telling stories). Whatever happened to the days when viruses gave you a sore throat and caused mucus to come out of your nose? Anyway, Odo doesn't have a real nose or throat, so he's immune to the virus and has to figure everything out before people start dying. Although not soon enough to save Jadzia from the most powerful backhand known to man. Nobody can slap a woman as well as the Irish can.

I don't know, for most of this episode I may as well have been watching the adventures of the USS Walt Whitman (it so too is a starship). Sisko isn't Sisko, Kira isn't Kira, and all the stuff about the conflict between the Federation and the Bajorans is just window dressing. The only people that are themselves are Odo and Quark, and there's not enough of them to hold the episode together. Ultimately, none of this means anything. It could have had the main characters contract a virus that forces them to relive A Charlie Brown Christmas and it would be the same basic plot.

It could have had the main characters contract a virus that forces them to relive A Charlie Brown Christmas and it would be the same basic plot.

Click to expand...

I doubt A Charlie Brown Christmas would have them engage in multiple mutinies and literally trying to backstab each other.

While not a great episode, I think it's fairly average. I've always seen the virus as bringing out the already pre-existing tensions between the characters. And, while If Wishes Were Horses gave us the ballball, this one gives us Sisko's clock. But, seriously, why was he so obsessed with it?

It could have had the main characters contract a virus that forces them to relive A Charlie Brown Christmas and it would be the same basic plot.

Click to expand...

I doubt A Charlie Brown Christmas would have them engage in multiple mutinies and literally trying to backstab each other.

While not a great episode, I think it's fairly average. I've always seen the virus as bringing out the already pre-existing tensions between the characters. And, while If Wishes Were Horses gave us the ballball, this one gives us Sisko's clock. But, seriously, why was he so obsessed with it?

Hm, first time I really disagree with you, TGB: I loved "Dramatis Personae"! It's one of the better episodes of the first season. Granted, the conflict is a purely superficial one, but I like the way the mutiny unfolds and how everyone is more or less driven to one side of the opposing parties. It's kind of a what if story, where we see the natural conflicts between the characters driven to the maximum.

The problem with treating it as a "what if" story is that the characters aren't really themselves. And it's not that the virus thing amplified parts of their personalities, it seems to have completely replaced their existing ones. You may as well call Sisko by a completely different name as whoever was in this episode wasn't him.

Duet (***)

This has to be one of the most overrated episode of Trek ever. It's not bad, it's just not that masterpiece that some make it out to be, and people tend to gloss over some of the plot-holes because they're so mesmerised by Darhe'el's ridiculously evil rant. But the biggest problem with this episode is that it's too complicated. A good episode of television shouldn't leave you guessing as to how it will end, it should be apparent within the first five minutes of the show. There are too many twists and turns in this episode to make it enjoyable.

No, I'm not insane, I'm just lying. I thought I'd have my fun with all of you before posting a real review. I'm too lazy to type up any more nonsense about this episode, so here's the lyrics from Copacabana to make this fake review look real at first glance. Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there. She would merengue and do the cha-cha and while she tried to be a star, Tony always tended bar. Across a crowded floor, they worked from 8 till 4, they were young and they had each other. Who could ask for more? At the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana. At the Copa, Copacabana, music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa....they fell in love. His name was Rico, he wore a diamond. He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancin' there and when she finished, he called her over. But Rico went a bit too far, Tony sailed across the bar and then the punches flew and chairs were smashed in two.

There was blood and a single gun shot, but just who shot who? At the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana. At the Copa, Copacabana, music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa....she lost her love. Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl. But that was 30 years ago, when they used to have a show. Now it's a disco, but not for Lola, still in the dress she used to wear, faded feathers in her hair. She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half-blind. She lost her youth and she lost her Tony, now she's lost her mind! At the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana. At the Copa, Copacabana, music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa....don't fall in love.